REPORT: MAIDSTONE UNITED V YEOVIL TOWN

Town travelled to Kent to take on Maidstone United in the FA Cup First Round and returned to Somerset with their name in the hat for round two following a 1-0 win.

Red cards for Jakub Sokolik in the first half and keeper Artur Krysiak in the second half saw the Glovers reduced to nine men.

A Wes Fogden goal after 55 minutes saw the Glovers take the lead with just ten men, before Krysiak was dismissed for a foul just outside the area.

Manager Paul Sturrock announced the signing of Darren Ward at 1pm and the new signing made his debut as did Ben Tozer. Omar Sowunmi also returned to action after a sustained spell on the sidelines. Nathan Smith and Jakub Sokolik both passed fitness tests and made the starting eleven.

Town were reduced to ten men after just seven minutes when defender Sokolik was dismissed for a lunging tackle on James Rogers just inside the Town half.

With the sending off Town made a substitute ten minutes later with the returning Sowunmi replaced by defender Alex Lacey.

The remainder of the first half was played out without any incident with new signing Darren Ward playing alongside three different players.

The second half began much the same but both sides were showing more attacking intent and with ten minutes of the second half played Town opened the scoring when Fogden scored his first goal for the Glovers.

Dickson’s free kick was whipped in but Maidstone keeper Morgan’s attempted punch was weak and Fogden was quickest to react to send the ball into the net, much to the delight of the travelling Glovers fans.

Just moments later Town were reduced to nine men when Krysiak was dismissed for a foul just outside the area on Osborn.

From the resulting free-kick the home side fired just wide. Just seconds later the Glovers almost doubled their lead when from a corner substitute Lacey header was cleared off the line

With just under ten minutes remaining the home side hit the post. A corner was whipped in and Coyle’s header bounced back off the base of the post and the ball bounced into the hands of Weale.

On 90 minutes the home side had the ball in the net through Akrofi, but his header was ruled out for offside.

Despite only having nine men the Glovers held firm to secure their place in the next round of the FA Cup.